OATHTAKER

Chapter 11, Part 2

"My parents told the rest of us nothing more at the time. I imagine it must have been very painful for them."

"I'm sure."

Now that Nina's story had begun, the telling was becoming easier. Even so, she wept.

"The second year they sold my next eldest sister, Yanny. Then the third year approached. Things had continued to spiral down. I was the only one remaining that could bring my parents a suitable price. It was only later I learned that I was considered something of a beauty, so the handlers were willing to pay more for me than they had for my sisters.

"I still have to believe my parents thought they were selling me into service for the palace as a servant, but in fact," she said in a voice now devoid of any emotion, "I was sold to the palace as a whore for Zarek's men."

"Oh, how awful." Mara stroked the young woman's arm.

Nina nodded, acknowledging the sympathies. Taking a deep breath, she bore on. "I served . . . Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say that I 'serviced' Zarek's men for about a year when I became pregnant. Whenever that happened to one of the girls, the authorities sent them away for the last few months.

"Most returned later and they all told the same story. If the child was a boy, he was taken away. We believed Zarek made arrangements for them to be raised as future soldiers. The girls—" She choked back a sob. "The girls they . . . killed."

"No!"

"In front of their own mothers' eyes. Immediately upon birth, if the child is a girl, the attending midwife calls for a guard. When he arrives, he bludgeons the child to death." Nina, sobbing, dropped her head into her hands.

Mara sat beside her and held her in her arms, rocking her gently and rubbing her shoulder softly. "I'm so, so sorry."

After some minutes, the young woman's crying subsided.

"So that's why you escaped. Right? So they wouldn't harm your child?"

"Not right away."

"But you lost your child on your journey to Oosa."

"No. I lost my third child on my journey."

"Your third?"

"Yes."

Mara filled Nina's glass and handed it to her, urging her to drink. "Tell me of your first child. Was it a boy or a girl?"

"Oh," Nina cried, "I had a beautiful boy! A boy I'd recognize to this day if I saw him, and I hope one day that I will. It doesn't matter that his father was a beast. He's my flesh and blood."

"How would you recognize him?"

"By his birthmark."

"Oh?"

Nina smiled and closed her eyes for a moment, bringing back the memory. "He had a birthmark on his left temple. Right here," she said as she pointed to the place on her face. "It was only about this big," she made a circle with her thumb and pointer finger, "except that it wasn't exactly round. I'd recognize my boy by that sign in a heartbeat. Anytime. Anywhere."

"So they took him away," Mara said after a moment of silence.

Nina cleared her throat. "Yes. About a year and a half later, I became pregnant again. I was so afraid. I started making plans to escape, but . . . it was not to be."

"You bore your second child?"

"A beautiful baby girl." The young woman's body shook. "She was just minutes old. The guards . . . slaughtered her." She gulped back tears.

"The midwife told me it was my own fault for having had a girl and that the next time, if I wanted to see my child survive, I'd best bear a son."

Nina was quiet for a minute, lost in her thoughts. "A year or so passed," she finally said.

"And then?"

She took another taste of her wine. "Shortly before I became pregnant for the third time, I was chosen to attend a special event to commemorate some of Zarek's prized soldiers." She closed her eyes and lost herself in her story.

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Oathtaker is an award-winner in the 2014 Readers' Favorite International Book Award contest. A completed work, it is currently available in print form at CreateSpace at createspace.com/4767727, in print and for your Kindle on Amazon (see the link) and from Barnes and Noble for your Nook.